‘No, you’re most definitely not,’ he agreed and in that moment he began to fall a little in love with her. ‘Now drink your tea and then I’m going to see you home. You must be worn out.’

Holly knew that she should refuse but she quite liked the idea so she simply smiled and nodded.

Chapter Fifteen

‘Eeh! I’ve been worried sick about you, where have yer been till this time?’ Ivy asked the second Holly set foot through the door. ‘An’ who were that man who yer were with? I saw yer both comin’ down the street.’

‘If you’ll let me get a word in I’ll tell you,’ Holly told her wearily and once she had Ivy grinned.

‘Well, it’s sad about the old lady that died but I have to say that young doctor looked a bit of all right! Got a soft spot for yer, has he?’

Holly blushed to the roots of her hair. ‘Of course he hasn’t,’ she said rather too quickly as she fiddled with her nurse’s cap. ‘He was just being gentlemanly by walking me home. There are strict rules at the hospital saying that nurses and doctors are not allowed to walk out together.’

‘Huh! That’s as may be but rules are made to be broken,’ Ivy retorted. She crossed to the oven and grimaced. ‘I’ve been keepin’ yer dinner warm but it looks like a burnt offerin’ now. Shall I get yer some bread an’ cheese instead? Or I could do you a slice o’ cake?’

Holly yawned as she shook her head. ‘Thanks, but I reckon I’ll get off to bed, if you don’t mind. Sister gave me a sandwich earlier on so I’m not that hungry really, just tired.’

Once in the privacy of her room she took off her uniform and folded it neatly across the back of a chair before pulling her nightdress on. She was too tired to even wash or brush her hair. Once between the sheets she began to think of the walk home with Dr Parkin. He’d asked her to address him as Richard but she doubted she would ever be able to do that, it was just too disrespectful. Even so they’d chatted away as if they’d known each other for years and she’d been surprised to learn that far from coming from a well-to-do family he had actually been brought up in Spitalfields by his mother.

‘My family were as poor as church mice,’ he’d said with a grin. ‘But I wouldn’t swap them for the world. I got through medical school by working every minute when I wasn’t studying and my mother was tickled pink when I became a doctor. Our father left us when I was quite young, and somehow she brought us all up on her own. I don’t know how she did it really, sometimes she had three jobs on the go, as well as looking after us. But what about you?’

So Holly had told him about her mother and grandfather but had been careful not to explain why she had left home. ‘I just felt it was time to spread my wings,’ she’d told him instead and he seemed to accept that.